AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was just grateful she wasn’t crying anymore. “What?”
“You never even lost your glasses.”
I fixed said glasses on my nose. “I can do more than write a few research papers.”
She giggled, and it was a literal balm to my soul.
I bent and kissed the top of her head. “I’m going to shower and probably stare at the wall for a while so I don’t find out where that asshole lives. But I want you to get some rest tonight, okay?”
She scrunched my shirt in her fist, keeping me close. “Don’t let?—”
Finn’s voice called out a moment after the creak of his door interrupted Kennedy, and she leaned over, peering at the staircase. “I’m coming, Finnie!” She let go of me, and I forced myself not to follow and wrap her up in my arms again. With a hopeful arch of her brow, she asked, “We’ll talk later?”
“Yeah.”
Her shoulders rose on a deep breath, as if she was finally satisfied. She offered me a tiny smile and spun away, heading upstairs, her soft, sweet voice carrying palpable affection. “What’s wrong? Come here, babes.”
I crept over, peeking around the wall of the kitchen so I could see Kennedy pick up my son, kissing his temple. He rested his head on her shoulder as she carried him back to his bedroom. A few moments later, his door closed, but not before I heard her singing to him.
Yes, she was an angel.Myangel.
EIGHTEEN
KENNEDY
It turned out Finn didn’t only have trouble sleeping; he was sick. It had started with a stuffy nose, but became worse with a fever a day later, and when I eventually took him to the doctor, it turned out to be RSV. For the last week, the poor kid had been miserable, and Liam and I had taken turns lying with him during the night, alternating between plying him with popsicles and his medication. It had been extra rough on Liam at bedtime since I was at rehearsal every evening, and that was when Finn hacked and coughed until he cried, which only made the hacking and coughing worse.
Whenever I’d come home, I always popped my head into his room to relieve Liam since neither one of us seemed to be able to leave the little guy alone when he was so out of sorts. But he was finally feeling better, and I took the opportunity to sprawl out on the couch in the living room with my favorite movie while Liam put Finn down.
I was about forty-five minutes into it when Liam plodded downstairs.
“How is he?” I asked, and Liam offered me an exhausted half smile as he combed his hand through his hair.
“Fast asleep. I stayed to make sure.”
“You need anything?” I sat up, planning to get him a drink or a snack, but he held out his hand, staying me.
“Just need to sit.” He reclined next to me with a sigh, extending his arm along the back of the sofa as he relaxed his head against the cushion. “What a week.”
Not to mention last weekend when Liam had white-knighted me, coming to my defense with Jordan. I didn’t know what exactly had gone down between the two because Liam had been completely tight-lipped about it, and I’d finally blocked Jordan’s number. But whatever it was, I believed Liam when he said Jordan would never be contacting me again.
The day after my date with Jordan, I’d spent a long time on the phone with Taylor, explaining what had happened, and even though she’d demanded I meet with her in person, I didn’t want to leave Finn while he was sick. So, she’d taken to texting and FaceTiming me multiple times a day.
“Your sister?” Liam asked, motioning to my cell phone now.
I sent off the message about being ready for her and Dean to pick me up tomorrow morning. “Yeah. About the flight.”
We were headed to Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with my mother and her boyfriend. And it couldn’t have been at a worse time. Not when everything between Liam and me felt so precarious.
We hadn’t been able to finish our conversation from the kitchen and another almost-kiss.
“You excited to see your mom?”
“Yeah.” Matching Liam’s position, I let my head fall back to the sofa and turned to meet his gaze. “But I do feel bad about leaving you and Finn for the holiday.”
He waved his hand in the air. “Nah. We’ll be fine. We’re going to Dylan’s. His ex-wife has the kids Thursday, and he’s bumming with his girlfriend gone, so Finn’ll keep him busy.”
I gave in to a laugh. “I’m glad he’ll have fun, but I will miss you guys.”
